Metal Hands Can't Feel Anything
by King of Werewolves
Summary: When Nina can't stop thinking about Crash, she discovers that you really can't choose who you fall in love with. But why did it have to be Crash?
1. Pancakes

Nina didn't understand why she was even doing this.

It was extremely early on a Saturday morning and instead of sleeping in like _normal _people, she decided to pay a visit to Crash's house all the way on N. Sanity Island. She had to sneak out of the Academy of Evil, steal a boat, go past the middle Island, ended up going on that island since the boat ran out of fuel, steal a ferry boat, make it to the N. Sanity docks, and go on a short walk along the beach shore until she could see his house through a bunch of big trees in the dark. Not only that, but she had to avoid Crash's pets that ranged from a tiger, a polar bear, and even to a t-rex (baby-size of course). Nina was not very happy with this, especially since the one thing that made her angrier then any of this was that she never got any breakfast.

Her stomach was screaming at her, letting her know how much of a moron she was for not getting anything to eat before she left for Crash's place for god-knows-what reason. All she had to do was to sneak into the cafeteria, get into the kitchen, get something to eat, and get out of there. Nina couldn't think why she didn't go get breakfast before leaving. Maybe she just didn't want to get caught and serve detention. Maybe she didn't want to waste her time doing all of that for a few lousy pieces of toast.

Or maybe it was because she couldn't stop thinking about Crash.

She didn't know when, where, why, or how it happened. It just started one day during science class when she was just staring out the window with a bored look in her eyes. She started to think about what everyone else was doing back on N. Sanity Island. She couldn't help but wonder how they were doing and started to daydream about them. She could see it all clearly in her head: Crunch working out with his weights, Coco typing away on her pink laptop, Polar was chasing Pura around while barking loudly, Aku-Aku trying to stop them while Baby-T was trying to catch him, and Crash………Her brain suddenly stopped working for a moment. All of her other thoughts were cancelled out by one thought in particular.

"……Crash…" Nina sighed with a dreamy look on her face.

"Ahem……"The teacher coughed, startling Nina. The whole class started laughing at Nina, causing her to slightly blush. This wasn't the only time it happened either. After that class she started to think about Crash a lot more than anything else. His bright emerald eyes, his orange colored fur, his goofy smile, everything about him was driving her nuts!

"_Why? Why can't I stop thinking about the orange fur ball? What is it about him that makes him so…so…so likable?" _Nina desperately thought as she tried to concentrate on her homework (which she was way behind on since last week when this all started). She tried to search her mind for any answers that may have been hiding in there, but she came up with nothing. She could search her heart for an answer, but she had a pretty good idea of what it would be………and it frightened her to know this. It's not like she didn't like him or anything, it's just that they were so much different from each other. Unfortunately, she was well aware of the fact that she would not be able to get her work done like this, leaving her with only one option.

"_Go to his house……all the way on N. Sanity Island." _Nina mentally thought. She put her pencil down, turned off her bedroom light, and snuck out of school through her window. It was nice and breezy outside, which made Nina relax a bit as she ran along the rooftops of the buildings surrounding the school. Not long after sneaking out, she made it to the docks. It was still pretty dark out, but the full moon gave off plenty of light for her to see. She spotted a small motor boat not too far away from where she was standing. After using her spring loaded metal fists to start the boat, causing the boats engine to make a loud humming sound, she set course for N. Sanity Island.

"_I can't believe I'm actually doing this…" _Nina thought as she rode over the calm ocean waters. It's not like she hasn't done this before. She's sneaked out before and hi-jacked plenty of different vehicles to get around the city, looking for something to add a bit of excitement to her midnight adventures. But this……this was different. She actually had a destination that she was determined to-

The engine suddenly died, causing the boat to stop near an Island between her home Island and N. Sanity Island.

"Shit." Nina groaned as she got out and carefully walked up the shore. Her black dress shoes were soaked and her socks felt very soggy now. She was now on the sandy beach, trying to figure out what to do. Sure, the trip wouldn't take too long since the Island's were so close to each other, but if she didn't find another way to get across, she'd have to swim.

"This is just great." Nina mumbled as she searched around for a way to continue towards N. Sanity Island. It took only five minutes to notice that she was near a small dock with a ferry boat tied to it. _"Somebody loves me." _Nina thought as she got in the boat and untied the rope from the dock, once again setting course for N. Sanity Island. She was relieved to know that she was almost there, but there was strange feeling in her stomach that she had felt since this all started. Either it was doing flip flops or she was just hungry (she didn't have breakfast). She tried to ignore it, but it was bothering her even more as she got closer to N. Sanity Island. Finally, after twenty minutes of going on this crazy trip, she made it.

"_It's about time." _Nina thought as she got off the boat, not even bothering to tie it to the dock. She knew Crash would help her get back home because of his helpful nature. She hurried towards his house, her shoes made squishy noises, while thinking that this was almost over. It wasn't until she noticed something in front of the gate that she suddenly had to stop, nearly tripping over from going so fast.

There, right in front of the gate, were three of Crash's (one belonging to his sister) pets: Polar, a small polar bear who acts and thinks like a dog with an actual dog bark; Pura, Coco's pet tiger who is seen with her almost all the time; and Baby-T, a dinosaur Crash found during one of his adventures and decided to keep it after they bonded with each other. All three of them were sleeping together at the entrance of the gate, blocking Nina from getting in. Sure, she could go over the gate, but Coco put up a security system all along the gate so that was a no-go. Plus, it wouldn't look too graceful while in her school uniform, so she had one other option.

'_Looks like I'm going to have to zip-line.' _Nina thought as she pulled her right arm back. After finding a spot she could grab (the gutter above the front door) she shot her fist forward, the springs in her wrist were automatically activated and made her fist go all the way to the gutter. The moment she grabbed it her body was sent forward like she had been shot from a slingshot and landed right on the front porch steps.

'_This is it….' _Nina thought as she carefully knocked on the old wooden door. She stood there for a few minutes until she heard some shuffling from inside the house. Crash answered the door while standing in only his red boxers. Nina suddenly couldn't help but stare, her face turning redder with each passing moment. She tried to say something, but for some reason she couldn't form proper words and sounded like she was babbling. It wasn't until Crash snapped his fingers and pointed with two fingers at his emerald eyes that Nina was brought back to reality, her face dark red with embarrassment.

"Um….hi…." Nina said with her head shifted to the right, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. Crash raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why Nina would be here this early in the morning. Nina nervously asked if she could come in, her face still very red but slowly turning back to its normal color. Crash moved out of her way and let her in his house, closing the door once she was inside.

Nina never actually went inside Crash's house before, so she looked around a bit while Crash went for the kitchen. The living room was of decent size with few decorations, most of which were either family pictures, exotic plants, or the motorized surfboard with hot rod flames on the wall. Nina found a lime green couch in the middle of the room that was facing a well built fireplace with a flat screen hooked up on it. Nina started thinking about watching TV with Crash alone without his family around, those started turning into romantic thoughts, which made Nina turn red again.

'_Damn it, stop being such a pervert! You need to talk to Crash without thinking about'_-the thought of Crash in his boxers suddenly popped up in her head. _'….Ahhh! Stop it! STOP IT! Get it together, Nina. You're so close now. All you have to do is tell him what's been happening to you and….' _Nina suddenly felt her chest pound really hard. There was something she forgot to think about before she decided to go on this little quest of hers and it wasn't until now she realized it. What Crash thought she was a creep? What if he was so freaked out that he never wanted to see her again? Nina was starting to have second thoughts about this and was almost about to bolt out of there when she heard something over by the open kitchen. She turned and saw Crash in front of the stove whistling some tune as he was making breakfast. Nina quietly walked up behind him and saw that he was making pancakes.

Nina didn't think much of the pancakes at the moment (she thought they were unappetizing food with sticky syrup all over it, making it worse than before) because she was focused on Crash's furry back at the moment. Even with all that bright orange fur on his body, Nina could still make out his shoulder blades and the bumps on his spine. She was very tempted to look down even lower, but she had enough will power to resist and focus her attention on Crash's upper back. Her hands started moving on their own as they were in close proximity of Crash's shoulders. An image suddenly flashes before her eyes, making her pull back her hands. The memory of all the cute animals she hugged after her Uncle Neo replaced her hands with spring loaded metal fists have haunted her for a very long time. Nina never knew animals that small could have so much blood. As she continued to be pelted by all those horrible images, she didn't get to notice that she was crying….or that the whistling had stopped.

When she snapped back to reality, Nina suddenly felt very warm cozy. It took her a second to realize that Crash was hugging her….pantsless. She became really nervous now and decided to bury her face in his chest while returning the hug. He felt so warm and comforting to her that she just didn't want to let go, completely forgetting about the dead animal thoughts from earlier. Nina didn't want this moment to end, even if she had to have her feet replaced with spring loaded metal boots. But of course, crash had to end the hug so the pancakes wouldn't burn.

Nina strolled over to the kitchen table and plopped down in a chair that was closer to the kitchen area. She watched as he flipped the pancakes in the pan while whistling that catchy tune again. When they were ready he turned off the stove and went to look for a clean plate. Nina started getting bad thoughts again as Crash almost bent over a few times. _'Bend over, bend over, bend over….' _Nina thought as she struggled to turn away, but it was no use. Crash did find a plate in the top cupboard, but it slipped from his furry fingers and nearly shattered on the wooden floor. Crash caught it with ease, but he had bent over in Nina's direction, causing her brain to stop functioning properly.

For five minutes Nina stared at Crash's ass, drooling like a water faucet. She didn't even realize she was drooling until she felt a paper-like object being wiped over her chin. Crash had noticed Nina drooling after he had set the plate of finished pancakes down in front of her and quickly got a napkin to clean her drool off her chin. After he threw the wet napkin away, Crash took a seat next to a blushing Nina, watching her intently.

Nina just stared at the pancakes in front of her with a puzzled look. Surely Crash didn't think she would actually _eat_ the pancakes, right? They were just not at all tasty to her and the syrup made it worse. She gave Crash a strange look before pushing the plate towards him. Crash pushed the plate back towards Nina, picking up the fork and cutting a piece out with plenty of syrup on it. Crash held the fork close to Nina and moved slowly towards her mouth, but Nina kept her mouth shut tight.

'_If he thinks he can feed me those god-awful pancakes then he can just'-_Nina's thoughts were interrupted by a strange sensation on her right rib cage. She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice Crash's left hand reach over and gently rubbed her side with his furry hands. No one had ever had the guts to touch her like that (no ever really tried to for that matter), so it was only natural that Nina froze up. _'….ahhh….that feels….feels….' _Nina couldn't really describe what she was feeling right now. The affectionate rubbing was something Nina never really experienced before….and she liked it. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Her eyes widened at the sudden taste of sugary syrup and wet pancakes in her mouth. Crash had taken the opportunity to put the fork in Nina's mouth, succeeding in feeding her the pancakes. Nina had no choice but to swallow, not just because it was already in her mouth, but because now she had to make sure she didn't hurt Crash's feelings.

They weren't that bad, but she still didn't like them. She glared at Crash, daring him to try that stunt again. Crash wasn't paying any attention to her though; he was staring at her mouth for some reason. Before Nina could ask why, Crash put both of his hands on her cheeks. Nina had a terrified look on her face, hoping that he wasn't about to kiss her. She was close, Crash just licked some syrup off Nina's mouth, _her _**mouth**. Chills ran down Nina's spine so much she started to shake a little. Crash had done what was probably the boldest thing in history and didn't even realize it. If Nina didn't think he was cute then Crash would have been beaten to a bloody pulp within seconds of his daring act. For the moment, Nina was speechless. She felt so many different emotions that the only other thing she felt was her own body heat rise up. She suddenly felt so hot that if she tried to pull her shirt collar down that steam would come out.

Crash decided that Nina didn't have to eat the pancakes, seeing as she obviously didn't like his cooking. He picked up her plate and was almost in the kitchen when one of her hands stretched out and stopped him. Nina couldn't speak at first, mainly because she discovered something when she unintentionally licked her lips. Crash's tongue tasted sweet. It was so good that the taste made the taste of syrup better with it. She wasn't about to ask crash to French kiss her or anything, but she wanted to have another tasted of that sweetness. She had to quickly come up with an excuse before he got out of her grip.

"Um….could I have some wumpa fruit on those pancakes….please?" Nina asked while trying to hide her embarrassment. Crash nodded with a goofy grin on his face as he went into the kitchen to cut up some wumpa fruit for the pancakes. Nina sighed, running her metal hands through her short black hair. After all of that she still didn't even get to talk to Crash.

'_Damn hormones.' _Nina thought as she tried to relax a bit. After she finished eating the pancakes, she would have her chance to sort out all her feeling for Crash. Nina just hoped that there wouldn't be any more distractions or else she'd never get this taken care of. There was also the fear of what Crash's reaction might be to what she'd tell him. All Nina could do was take a deep breath and pray that everything would be okay.

Of course the universe just loves to prove her wrong.

A/N: I was debating whether or not I should have this as a one-shot, but decided to make this into a story. I'm a little upset there aren't a whole lot of CrashxNina fics out there, so I hope everyone enjoys mine. Please R&R.


	2. The Talk

After breakfast, Nina plopped down on the couch, eagerly waiting for Crash to sit next to her so they could _finally _talk. Crash went back to his quarters to get some cloths on so Nina would stop giving him strange looks. When he came back, Nina saw that he just threw on some old faded jeans and his brown fingerless gloves. _'You never change, do you Crash?' _Nina thought as she watched him sit next to her. She took a deep breath before starting.

"Okay Crash, now that all of that stuff is put aside, I wanted to talk to you about something. I came all this way so I could sort some things out with you." Nina said, receiving a nod from Crash. What she was going to say next made her heart start to beat a little faster. _'This is it.' _Nina thought, looking in Crash's eyes before she spoke.

"For a while now I can't seem to stop thinking about you. At first it was nothing but just random thoughts with you in them, but recently they've changed. I'm thinking more and more about you with each day that goes by and it's driving me insane! What I'm trying to say is I….I think I….I….lov-like! I think I like you!" Nina blurted out that last part, stopping herself from saying _that _word. _'That was WAY too close.' _Nina thought while trying to avoid Crash's eyes.

Crash just blinked after she finished speaking. He had heard her say that she liked him, but in what way? He knew very well what the difference between liking someone and _like_-liking someone, mainly because of past experience. He remembered when he went on his first adventure that he fell in love with Tawna, a beautiful female bandicoot that was way more mature then Crash in both looks and personality. Even after everything he went through to save her, she left him for one of his enemies. Pinstripe, Tawna's new boyfriend and Crash's trickiest foe, had stolen his love and didn't hold back when it came to rubbing it in his face. Later on in his life he met Pasadena, a possum who loved to race fast cars….and loved Crash even more. He didn't really want to get involved with her because she seemed like the jealous type to him, not to mention she stalked him for a while after he saved the Motor World theme park with her help. Crash decided to take a break from romance after that, focusing more on his family and his hobbies. Now that he had heard Nina say that she liked him, he knew he had to do something.

Nina had her head turned away from him with tears rolling smoothly down her pink cheeks. His silence must have made her think he thought she was nuts or something. Crash gently cupped her left cheek with his hand and moved her face so he could look her straight in the eye. He wiped her face clean of her tears before pulling her into a tight hug. Nina immediately responded by wrapping her arms around his furry back and burying her face in his fuzzy chest. Nina could tell that this was different from the last hug, the one before was for comfort while this one….she couldn't say what it meant but she didn't really care at the moment, she was enjoying it too much to care at all.

Of course if it weren't for a sudden shrieking sound it would have lasted longer. They abruptly broke apart and turned to see Crash's sister Coco standing there in some pink pajamas, her jaw dropped open and pointing at them with a shaky finger. They both looked at each other and then back at Coco, wondering what was wrong with her. _'Thanks a lot, Coco.' _Nina thought sarcastically as Coco snapped out of her shock with an angry glare directed towards her.

"What are _you _doing in _my _house_?!" _Coco yelled as she got a little closer to the couch. Crash just scratched his head, trying to come up with an answer that didn't involve telling her about Nina's confession, the poor girl went through enough already in his opinion. Nina was trying to come up with a solution of her own as well.

"Well?" Coco asked again, this time in a calmer voice. Crash couldn't come up with a solution he could say with his hand gestures so it was Nina who spoke.

"Well, I've been having some trouble lately…."

"What kind of trouble?"

"Personal trouble that you don't need to know about. Anyway, I needed someone to talk to so I came over here to talk to your brother. He listened to me and understood what I was going through and…._he made me breakfast_." Nina said that last part quietly. Coco heard it but chose to ignore it for the moment.

"Is this true Crash?" Coco asked. Cash quickly nodded, relieved that Coco didn't press on it any further. She sighed, running her small hands through her long blonde hair.

"Well, alright then. But next time I want you to call us first. When I walked in here I didn't expect to see you two hugging on the couch. It could have been a lot _worse_ than that and I would like a little warning so it doesn't _get _worse. Got it?" It didn't take Nina long to get what Coco was hinting at, which caused her to turn beat red.

"We weren't going to do _that_ you sick pervert!" Nina shouted.

Coco ignored her and returned to her room by the time Nina finished yelling. They didn't even get a moments peace when another door was violently opened, a huge muscular bandicoot emerging from the dark hallway. His burgundy fur was a mess, his eyes were full of rage, and he would no mercy to whoever woke him from his precious sleep. Nina recognized him as Crunch Bandicoot because of his metallic right arm and oversized upper body. He took one look at both Nina and Crash before he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"Crash, remember that _talk_ we had? You're supposed to bring the girl into _your _room, not the _living_ room."

"Oh, for the love of god, not you too! Look, we were just talking, ok? Nothing else happened." Nina said, feeling very annoyed by the perverted ignorance of Crash's family. Crunch just blinked once at them before retreating to his domain, but not before he mumbled something that Nina was able to hear and got red cheeks from the images that ran through her head because of what she heard Crunch mumble to himself.

'_My god, is EVERYONE in Crash's family THAT perverted?' _Nina thought while trying to ignore the images that danced in her head repeatedly. Crash left the room to go take a shower since everyone would be up soon. While he was undressing, he started thinking about his daily chores. _'Feed the pets, take out trash, vacuum the living room….'_ Crash was now repeating the small list of chores in his head so he wouldn't have to be lectured by Aku-Aku again. They were so boring that they put him right to sleep and he would end up with more chores for not paying attention. Crash had plenty of Axe brand bath products all over his body by the time he was done memorizing his chores. After washing himself and finishing his morning routine, Crash got started on his chores.

Nina had decided to follow Coco and try to spend some time with her without having an argument. They were now in Coco's room, which was nothing like what Nina had expected it to be. The pink bed took up most of the small room while the nightstand and book shelf were squished beside it. Her closet was next to her small dresser that stood opposite of her window, which was blasting the room with too much sunlight against the white walls, blinding Nina's eyes. Nina didn't want them to be in an awkward silence, so she tried to complement her room.

"Your room is….uh…." Nina was really trying to find a nice word to say that wouldn't set Coco off.

"….Not what you expected, right?"

"Not at all. Where's all of your stuff?"

"My tech is in my lab and my other stuff is hidden away, so no snooping." Coco started to stretch a bit while Nina eyed the bookshelf, noticing some books that caught her interest. Coco pulled out her pink laptop from under her pillow and turned it on, hoping to find some good videos on YouTube.

"So….do you guys go to school or something?" Nina asked, hoping to start a conversation. Coco gave her a strange look before replying.

"Well, we were planning on starting high school next year. We don't know what school we're going to, but at least we'll be together. When does school end for you?"

"Three weeks and it'll be summer vacation for me. What grade will you guys attend?"

"We're going into eleventh grade, same grade as you."

"Whoa, Crash is _that _good?" Nina didn't really care how Coco knew she was going into eleventh grade. She cared more about how Crash pulled _that _off when everyone knew he was a slacker.

"He's come a long way and has been working really hard for this. He didn't even want me to tutor him with his studies. I'm just as surprised as you are about this."

"Wow, I think we've all misjudged him. How did you guys get to pass two high school grades?"

"We covered those areas already." Coco shut off her laptop, deciding it was time to get ready for the day. Nina left her room to go find something else to do.

Crash had finished vacuuming and had food set out for the families' pets, which were now eating out of their respective dog bowls. Nina didn't see Crash anywhere and thought he was finishing up on his chores. She grabbed the remote off the arm rest of the couch and turned the TV on, searching for some cartoons while she sat in a lazy fashion on the couch. Crash appeared out of nowhere with a small blue stereo in his hands as he made his way for the couch. He didn't notice Nina was there, so when he set his stereo down and collapsed on the couch he didn't expect to be in Nina's face. Crash just blinked, staring at Nina as she stared back. Her heart beat was speeding up and her face turned pink from the close proximity of their faces. Crunch walked in, getting over his crankiness from earlier. When he spotted the two teens on the couch again he smacked his forehead, but then he held his head in pain after he realized that he had smacked himself with his metal hand.

"Crash, for the last time…."

"We weren't _doing _**that**!" Nina yelled.

Crash got off of her, heading toward the kitchen for some breakfast. Crunch followed suite while Nina stayed in the living room. Nothing seemed good on TV so she decided to snoop around the house a bit. She sneaked past the guys and crept down the hallway, hearing the faint sound of water coming from the bathroom. Coco was probably taking a shower, so Nina's chances of getting caught had greatly gone down. She took a peak in Crunches room, noticing weight sets and piles of magazines stacked up against the black walls that almost reached a small window. Axe brand products were set on top of a big brown dresser next to his bed with camouflage bed sheets and some scattered night time cloths over it. Besides some of the obvious stuff you'd find in a room like a night stand or a closet, Nina saw a big TV with an Xbox 360 hooked up to it and a bunch of m-rated games for it. She thought about going in and playing some of those games, but thought better of it. She decided to check out Crash's room.

Crash's room was surprisingly neat. His blue bed was neat, just like his bookshelf and his closet. He had his own TV against the blue wall with a PS3 hooked up to it and games neatly stacked by it. His wide dresser was next to his night stand, which was under his window. The one thing she saw that was different from the other rooms was a big dog bed in the corner with a few chew toys in it. _'It must be for Polar or Baby-T.' _Nina mentally noted as she sat on Crash's bed, thinking of what to do next.

'_Not much else to do since everyone is still getting their morning routines done. I wonder if Crash is done eating.' _Nina thought, rising up from the bed and headed back to the dining room. When she got there, Coco was sitting at the table with the other two bandicoots in blue overalls and a t-shirt with a sunflower on it. Nina noticed that they all ate omelets because of the bits of egg and ketchup smears on their plates. Crunch noticed her walk in and cleared his throat.

"Nina, Coco has told me that you were having a personal problem and you needed to talk to Crash about it. How serious is this problem?" Crunch asked firmly, his face full of worry.

"Oh, well, it's not that big of a deal. It's just…." Nina had to think up a quick lie fast.

"Well?"

"It's just….after I decided to change my ways, my uncle stopped talking to me. I was considered a failure to him. After that I just…." It wasn't a total lie. Nina was rejected by her Uncle Neo after she turned good, and it did upset her for a while. She got over it way before her feelings for Crash grew, but Crunch didn't know that so he had to believe her.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Cortex has done some horrible things in the past, but that's just cruel." Crunch said with a look of anger on his face. Coco looked down at her plate, feeling bad for getting Crunch to ask Nina about her problem. Crash knew that wasn't the truth, but he could tell that some of that story was a part of something else that Nina wasn't fully ready to reveal just yet. He'd make sure he was the first to hear it and help her through it quickly.

"Well, I'm sorry to have over-stayed my welcome. I'll just go." Nina said with a short bow. She was about to go out the front door when Crunch stopped her, placing his metal hand on her shoulder.

"Now hold on, I'm not one to let you go home on your own. You don't even have a ride."

"Yes I do, it's right-"

"_You didn't tie the boat to the dock_." Crunch whispered, not wanting Coco to hear him.

Nina smacked herself in the face, feeling really stupid at the moment for not tying the boat. She didn't really care how Crunch knew about the boat, but she was too embarrassed to think about it. Crash came up to them with his jet surf board under his right arm and his blue stereo in his left hand. After a few goodbyes, Crash escorted Nina over to the beach shore. He turned is board on with the press of a button, bringing his unique surf board to life. The small engine roared with power as Crash set it in the water, stepping on it with one foot and keeping the other on the sandy shore. Nina carefully stepped on, wrapping her arms around Crash's waist from behind so she wouldn't fall. Crash pulled up his other foot, letting the jet surf board so slow until they were away from the island. Nina held on tighter, ignoring the fact that she was really close to Crash as they surfed over the ocean towards her home Island. 

A/N: Told ya I'd update this fic. Well, this is getting interesting. Tell me what you think and throw some suggestions my way and we'll see what happens. I do have some plans for a few songs to be heard in the story to make things more interesting than it already is. Please R&R.


	3. Almost a Date

When they reached Nina's home island, she had expected Crash to leave her there at the docks. Surprisingly, he stayed with her as they traveled around the main city. He had turned his jet powered surf board into a jet powered skate board with a flip of a switch, and was now speeding around with a very terrified Nina clinging on to him for dear life. Crash always enjoyed going out since he didn't get to do it too often. He was pretty sure that the others wouldn't mind if he stayed with Nina for a few hours.

Crash slowed down a bit so he could get a better look around him (and stop Nina's annoying screaming) as he came across some interesting shops he never went to before. He finally got off his board (Nina practically fell off from being too dizzy), scooped it up with his blue stereo, and went inside a small book store. The place barely had any lights on, making the whole room kind of creepy to Crash. There were several shelves full of old books all around the room while a rack near the counter contained some manga that caught Crash's attention.

Nina stood by the counter, wondering where the cashier was. The place was pretty cool except for the fact that the only light was coming from the big windows by the door they had just came through. She was also wondering why Crash had taken her to a bookstore and not back at her school. It was obvious that he wanted to hang out with her, but why? Why did he all of a sudden want to spend time with her? Nina was about to ask when a creepy looking dude appeared out of nowhere behind the counter.

"Can I help you?" The creepy man asked with an annoyed tone in his voice. Nina jumped when she heard him speak, not even realizing he was standing right there. Crash stepped in front of Nina, placing one manga book on top of the dusty counter. The creepy man pressed some buttons on the register, ringing up the total amount as Crash handed him a twenty dollar bill.

"Have a nice day." The creepy man said, acting even creepier by smiling at them. His mood appeared to have changed after he had made a profit from Crash. When they left the store, Nina got a look at the manga Crash bought.

"_Goth _by Kendi Oiwa, I didn't know you were into horror stories?" Nina said. Crash just grinned at her, knowing there was a lot about him she didn't know about. Crash took a moment to organize his stuff. He put the Japanese comic in his back pocket, pressed another switch on his jet surf board that made it shrink until it was so small that Crash clipped it to one of his belt loops. Before Nina could even ask how that even worked Crash took his blue stereo and started walking again.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going now?" A sudden growling noise from Crash's stomach answered her question.

"You can't still be hungry after-" An even louder growling sound came from Nina's stomach, causing her to blush in embarrassment as Crash laughed at her. _'Why do I care so much about what he thinks of me?' _Nina thought to herself as Crash dragged her to the nearest fast-food joint, Wendy's.

Once they entered, Crash made his way to the counter, noticing that the girl at the register was quite cute with her light brown hair going past her shoulders and that she had pretty green eyes. Nina could tell by the way he looked at her that he liked her, which made her feel a little jealous. _'Great, now I'm jealous of how he thinks of a girl he just met. God, I feel so pathetic.' _Nina thought to herself as she read the cashiers name tag, making sure to remember 'Amy' in case she became a problem for her.

"C-c-can I h-help you?" Amy asked with a slight blush. Crash put his furry hand on his chin while he looked up at the menu. Once he made his decision he pointed to the small cheese burger on the menu with fries and a drink. Amy rang it up on the register before turning to Nina, waiting for her order. Nina ordered the same as Crash so they wouldn't waste any more time here (and so she could get Crash away from Amy).

The food wasn't too bad, but that's not what bugged Nina. What bugged her was Amy staring at Crash from the register. Crash would occasionally look up and acknowledge Amy before returning to his lunch. Nina had known this girl for less than ten minutes and she was already pissing her off by getting Crash's attention. It wasn't long before Amy started coming toward their table to see if they needed anything. Of course she was only asking Crash if he needed something, but he was fine so Amy would go back until she would come up with another excuse to be near Crash. Nina didn't feel like eating now and let Crash finish up her food. She was too busy thinking of how to get Amy away from Crash.

Crash was glad he got to try some of the food here in the city. Aku-Aku never let him stay away from his home for long and he didn't approve of fast-food since eating too much of it was bad for your health. Crash didn't really care at the moment since he was too busy eating Nina's leftovers. He noticed that Nina looked very irritated at the moment. Crash had assumed that it was because of the cute cashier girl that kept on coming over to their table. Crash wasn't an idiot, he knew Nina didn't like the attention he was giving to Amy, but he had to. It was the only way he knew to get her to understand that he wasn't interested in a relationship with her.

It was failing miserably though.

Nina was about to do something until Crash suddenly got up to throw away the trash that had littered both his and Nina's trays. Amy stood close by to see if he would say or do anything toward her. Nina watched carefully to see if Amy tried to pull anything. _'Okay, I'm definitely taking this too seriously. I need to-' _her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Crash giving Amy a peck on the check. Nina's mouth dropped open from shock as Crash handed something over to Amy. He returned over to Nina and motioned for her to follow him.

The long walk home was deathly quiet. Nina had decided that she didn't want to go back to school and was brought back to Crash's house. Crunch questioned Crash about this but Nina had made it clear that she just felt like hanging out with Coco. It was late now and Nina was on the carpet floor of Coco's bedroom wearing some purple pajamas she borrowed from the young female bandicoot. They spent a few hours looking up funny videos on the internet and reading fan fiction about their favorite animes. When it was really late Crunch came in to tell them 'lights out.' Nina was okay with sleeping on the floor but Coco didn't mind letting her have it. After they argued for a few minutes they decided to share the small bed….which resulted in them being entangled in an awkward hug. Coco was too tired to care about it and was already sleeping like a baby. Nina was too occupied with her thoughts to sleep and decided that she try to talk to Coco.

"Coco? Are you awake?" Nina quietly asked as she gently nudged the blonde bandicoot.

"Eh….wha….what is it?" Coco replied, hoping to get back to sleep soon.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Can't this wait til-?"

"It's about those 'personal problems' I didn't want to tell you earlier." Nina was now getting coco's full attention as the blonde bandicoot rubbed her eyes a little before sitting up on the bed, waiting for Nina to continue.

"Recently I've started to have feeling for your brother. I tried to explain it to him and I think by his actions today that he lik-"

"Stop right there." Coco ordered. Nina stopped talking and waited to hear what Coco had to say.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Crash doesn't have those kinds of feelings anymore. It may seem like he cares, but it's only for what reason."

"What do you mean?" Coco carefully thought of how to explain it to Nina before she spoke again.

"Did you meet any other girls that caught Crash's attention?" Nina couldn't help but feel nervous by this question, especially because it did happen.

"Yes….why?"

"Did he slip her a small piece of paper?"

"Well…."

"….let me show you what he does." Coco got up and quickly pulled out a white hoody for her and a gray one for Nina from her closet.

"Where are we going?" Nina asked as she put on the hoody.

"I'm taking you to where Crash goes to numb his pain." Coco said quietly as she opened her window, leading Nina outside into through the dark tropical night towards the small garage. Coco took out her motor scooter and took Nina over to the docks where she flipped a switch near the handle, turning the motor scooter into a hover scooter. They quietly floated over the quiet ocean waters as they hurried over to the third Island were Nina was about to get the shock of her life.

A/N: sorry about not updating sooner, but I just graduated so I had a lot to do. I did have an idea of how this story would originally go, but this way is more of my style. Also, the part with Nina and Coco being that close together is for all those CocoxNina fans out there. I'm not making them a couple in this story but I did want to show that there was some sort of connection there. Please R&R and send me some ideas!


	4. Addiction

Today was not going how Nina had planned it would.

It was almost midnight and she was just sitting on a bench outside a gas station while waiting for Coco to finish up in the ladies room. There was one light on over by the bench, but it was still very dark to see anything. The cool breeze did feel nice, but the howling sound it made really started to freak her out. The only reason why she was doing this was because of what Coco said half an hour ago before they came to the second Wumpa Island.

'_I'm taking you to whe__re Crash goes to numb his pain.' _

Nina had to admit that she was curious about what Coco meant by that, but she was still uneasy about the whole thing. She had no idea where they were and was afraid of what lay ahead of them. Most of all, she was afraid of seeing what Crash did to 'numb his pain.' Nina didn't want to think about what that meant right now and was relieved that Coco finally came out of the gas station.

They continued their trip through the dark chilly forest, the small headlights on the scooter barely lighting up the dirt road for them. Nina shivered from the cool wind and hugged Coco tighter for warmth.

Soon they pulled up to a small blue motel that looked a little run-down with only three or four street lamps working. Coco parked behind the registration office and made sure the scooter was well hidden so no one would snatch it. The two then sneaked over to the farthest room from where the scooter was stashed, hiding behind a big tree so no one could see them.

"Umm, Coco? Why are we-?"

"Over there." Nina turned to where Coco was pointing and saw Crash riding on his red motorcycle on the same path they had taken to get here. Nina could also see a girl riding with Crash as they pulled up by the registration office but couldn't see her face because she was wearing Crash's only helmet. Coco and Nina both stayed quiet while Crash went inside to get a room for him and his date. Not even a minute passed and Crash had already moved his ride in front of the same room the girls were hiding next to. Before they went in, Crash's date took the helmet off, causing Nina's jaw to drop.

It was Amy from the fast-food joint they went to hours ago wearing a tight black n' red striped shirt, short black skirt, purple slip-on shoes and checkered arm warmers. Nina couldn't believe how different she looked without the uniform on.

Crash had dressed up to. He had black fingerless leather gloves on with little metal spikes over the knuckles, a dark brown leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses on. Nina's cheeks turned bright red from seeing how handsome Crash looked, but her face turned a darker shade of red when he and Amy started to make out. Coco just sat there like she had seen this before a million times, not moving in the slightest bit while Nina used all her will power to sit still as she watched the two swap spit.

Five minutes felt like five hours for Nina as the couple finally broke apart for air. Once Crash and Amy went inside, Coco got up and leaned her back against the wall while Nina looked like she was gonna break the tree in two. She needed answers, now.

"Is _that_ why you brought me here?" Nina asked, her face still red from the display earlier. Coco just sighed.

"That was nothing."

"Nothing? That sure as hell looked like something!" Nina yelled, her voice rising dangerously.

Coco just stood there against the wall while Nina tried to calm down. The blonde bandicoot would occasionally pull out her pink cell phone and check the time on it. This went on for a while in total silence between the two until Coco started to walk behind the room Crash and Amy were currently occupying. Nina followed her, wondering what she was up to. When the back sliding door was almost in perfect view Coco spun around and put both hands on Nina's shoulders so she couldn't move.

"Whatever you do, don't make any loud noises." Coco warned before letting Nina go. She then returned to her original position against the wall while Nina took a peek inside the room. It took all of ten seconds for Nina to stumble back to where Coco was waiting for her.

"H-h-h-how c-can he……he d-d-do….." Nina stuttered with tears streaming down her pale cheeks as she fell over. Coco caught her and did her best to comfort Nina as the poor Goth girl sobbed on her shoulder.

After a while Nina finally stopped crying and was able to stand up. She had no idea Crash did that sort of thing, but since she didn't really know anything about his personal life it made sense that she didn't expect to see _that_. Her heart felt like it was split in two now and it hurt so much that she was about to cry again. Coco could only hug her as they walked back around the registration office to get her scooter back.

The trip back home was dead quiet. Neither of the girls made the slightest sound as they traveled back to N. Sanity Island. Nina just wanted to lie down and forget this day. She wanted to forget her feelings for Crash and forget ever knowing him. _'But I can't….' _Nina knew she couldn't forget her feelings for him. Not even after what she saw him do.

Her heart now felt like a pile of dust being blown in the wind…….

A/N: sorry for the long wait, I've had an idea overload during my trip and it was hard to type while riding in my camper. Its gonna be a while before I update again because I need to work on some real stories.


	5. Consequences of a Secret

It was a nice Saturday morning….but Nina didn't care.

Said girl was currently in her dorm room with the door locked and the shades closed. She kept her face buried in her tear stained pillow while her stereo played Blue and Yellow by The Used, one of her favorite songs.

A week had passed since that night at the motel. Most of that week was spent either crying, preparing for exams, or even more crying.

She just couldn't believe that Crash was sexually active. He seemed so kindhearted and pure until she and Coco went spying on him last week. It hurt so much to see him with another girl that she just couldn't stop crying. During school she gained the sympathy of the other girls in her class (even her _teacher _felt badly for her!).

After a few more minutes of sulking, Nina decided it was time to get up. Today she was going over the Bandicoot's house for the weekend and she wanted to be prepared this time. With a quick shower and a small breakfast, she was ready to start packing. She grabbed her small black backpack and began shoving in her toothbrush, shampoo/body-wash, pajamas, pre-picked cloths for Sunday, her homework, a black iPod and a copy of _Reiko the Zombie Shop _by Rei Mikamoto.

"_Sigh_….alright, better get going." Nina spoke to herself as she slung her bag over her shoulder and headed for the docks.

The trip to the docks wasn't eventful. In fact, she didn't really remember much of it since her thoughts were still focused on Crash. But once she did get there she boarded the old wooden ferry boat and went straight for N. Sanity Island.

It wasn't long until she reached her destination. After paying for the ride, Nina took the same trail she did last time and was soon right in front of the Bandicoot's house.

After a shaky knock, the door was answered by the last person she wanted to see right now.

"Crash…" Nina gasped with wide eyes. Said person just stared at her a few moments before letting her in. Nina hurried inside, holding back the urge to breakdown and cry as she went straight for Coco's room.

Coco was sitting on her bed with her laptop open when Nina came in. The young Bandicoot noticed the sad look on her friend's face and knew right away what had happened.

"You only saw him for a few seconds and you almost cried? You really need to get over that if you want to help him." Nina's only response was a short nod before setting her bag down. Coco was right. She had to get over that incident if she ever wanted to be with Crash.

"So what do I do?"

"I suggest you two go out again and get to know each other better before you do anything else. There's a festival tonight that we're planning on going to for a few hours. That will give you plenty of time to talk with him."

Nina wasn't so sure about going to a festival with Crash, but she really couldn't afford to miss the opportunity to get some possible alone time with him. With the sudden disappearance of the small rain cloud that was looming over her head earlier, Nina couldn't help but smile brightly now that she had a plan.

It wasn't until later that she found Crash whipping up some lunch for everyone in the kitchen. When she got close enough, she could see he was making buttered rice with cooked vegetables.

"Mmmm…" Nina moaned as she inhaled the smell of food cooking.

Crash couldn't help but grin, knowing full well that everyone currently in the house thought his cooking was the best.

"Good afternoon Nina." Aku-Aku greeted as he floated into the kitchen.

"Hey Aku-Aku, how are you?" Nina replied, still watching Crash prepare lunch with some drool going down her chin. The old voodoo mask chuckled as he went on his to find the others and bring them to the table for lunch.

Once everyone was seated, Crash served everyone a bowl of rice mixed with cooked vegetables. Nina didn't waste any time and practically attacked her food like a lion would attack his prey-mercilessly.

Crunch had finished his lunch in one bite before anyone else started, leaving the table to put his bowl away and return to his room without a word. Crash and Coco just ate quietly at a slow and steady pace while even Aku-Aku finished of his meal by using his magic to lift it up in a reverse waterfall-like motion straight into his mouth. Needless to say, Nina's eye's were almost as big as her bowl while her jaw hung loose at the sight of what she had just witnessed.

She waited until Aku-Aku left the room before speaking up. "Did you two see _that_?"

"Yes, we did. Trust me, when you've lived with him for a couple of years, it gets old real fast." Coco responded while she continued to eat.

It wasn't long until she finished and left the table, leaving Nina and Crash alone.

Insert awkward silence here.

"Ummm…the food is great Crash."

Crash got up from the table and put his bowl in the sink, obviously not hearing her. With no one else but her at the table, Nina guessed she was done too and tossed her bowl in the sink.

There wasn't much time left until the festival started, which meant she had to prepare herself if she was going to win Crash over.

Good luck with that…

A/N: Yeah, it's been a while since I wrote anything and I do apologize for that. I hope this will satisfy you all until I write more soon. Please R&R!


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